The website is not the goal

Years and years ago, I had a client that came to me looking for a website. Just a website. “Sure,” I said, “I can build one for you.” I worked with them to make something super great. It launched. Then they asked, “So, do we need to update this, ever?”

That website was a starting point. I didn't know about managing content. I didn't know what to say.

A couple of years after that, I had a client that came to me looking for a website they could update themselves. “You bet,” I said, and I worked with a friend to build them a website with (oh boy) a custom CMS that was really an inventory management system too. It launched. Then they asked, “So, how often do we need to update this? What happens when we have images larger than a screen? Why can we change these things and not these other things?”

That website was also a starting point. I didn't know about building a process and teaching curriculum around a new technology. I didn't know what to say.

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A website is a vessel. It is means to an end. That end may be more business. It may be a new way of doing things. It may be hiring more people, or firing some (yikes). It may be creating a process. Less and less, it's "just a website" or "just an app". It's a window into the organization or the person on the other end. It's a hello. It's a how are you. But it's rarely the end all be all.